The Face of God

There are many memories which are etched firmly in that part of us which stores memories.  When I start going through those which are filed away, there are two which are always up front and, hopefully, will never be erased by the work old age can sometimes do.  Both involve the first time I looked in the faces my two daughters.  One I saw for the first time through a hospital nursery window facing the hall and the other was handed to me by a nurse as she was being taken to her mother.  As any of us who are parents will agree, there is no moment like seeing your child for the first time.     

And, so it must have been for that young couple in Bethlehem so long ago.  It is likely that Joseph was the midwife and, therefore, caught the first glimpse of the Christ child before he was handed to Mary.  In the Celtic stream of spirituality it was believed that to look into the face of a newly born child was to look into the face of God.  And when the child was born, the midwife would drop three drops of water on the infant's head as a ritual invoking the Trinity.  If any parents looked into the face of God as they looked at their newborn child, it was surely Joseph and Mary.     

While He would later speak of seeing Him and seeing the Father, He, of course, was calling us to see more than the physical attributes of His manhood, but to see those invisible things about Him which can only be seen through the eyes of faith, the eyes of wonder, and the expectant eyes of hope.  Where He walked, God walked.  Where His presence was seen, so was seen the presence of God.  Such is the nature of the reality that in Him, God became flesh for us.  Mary and Joseph saw that first morning and the rest of us continue to see as we walk the road with Him toward Home.